if these limits may, at any time, be passed by those intended to be restrained?"
-- Chief Justice John Marshall, Marbury v. Madison, 1803
History’s Mysteries
by Lee
See, if I was Bush I’d fire someone’s ass over this. But, knowing Bush, he’ll give them the Presidential Medal of Freedom and promote them.
A historian quoted by President Bush to help argue that critics of the administration’s Iraq policy echo those who questioned the U.S. effort to bring democracy to Japan after World War II angrily distanced himself from the president’s remarks Thursday.
“They [war supporters] keep on doing this,” said MIT professor John Dower. “They keep on hitting it and hitting it and hitting it and it’s always more and more implausible, strange and in a fantasy world. They’re desperately groping for a historical analogy, and their uses of history are really perverse.”
In a speech on Wednesday, Bush quoted “one historian” as suggesting that foreign policy experts – and, by implication, critics of Bush’s approach to Iraq – aren’t always right. “An interesting observation, one historian put it, ‘Had these erstwhile experts’ — he was talking about people criticizing the efforts to help Japan realize the blessings of a free society — he said, ‘Had these erstwhile experts had their way, the very notion of inducing a democratic revolution would have died of ridicule at an early stage.’ ”
A search of Google books revealed that the “one historian” is Dower. The quote is from his book, “Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II,” which won the National Book Award and the Bancroft Prize, among other awards, in 1999.
So, what does this expert, quoted by the president, think about our chances for democracy in Iraq?
He immediately directed me to a November 2002 New York Times op-ed where he outlined 10 reasons why “most of the factors that contributed to the success of nation-building in occupied Japan would be absent in an Iraq militarily defeated by the United States.”
In March 2003, Dower wrote an essay for Boston Review, entitled “A Warning From History: Don’t Expect Democracy in Iraq.”
But wait, it gets better. Now, as you read the following paragraph, think about what I’ve been saying on this blog for the past few years.
“In the case of Iraq,” Dower said, “the administration went in there without any of the kind of preparation, thoughtfulness, understanding of the country they were going into that did exist when we went into Japan. Even if the so-called experts said we couldn’t do it, there were years of mid-level planning and discussions before they went in. They were prepared. They laid out a very clear agenda at an early date.”
And that’s it right there, folks. That’s the message. I can’t say for sure whether the Iraq mission would have been a success. But with this incompetent bunch of fuck-ups running things it was guaranteed to be a failure, because THEY HAD ABSOLUTELY NO PLAN FOR WHAT TO DO ONCE THEY GOT THERE. They thought a democratic government was just going to magically spring up out of the fucking ground or something.
This is why I question the continuation of the surge or the occupation. I just think that we’ve screwed the pooch so badly that “victory” (whatever the hell that’s supposed to mean these days) is unobtainable, and we need to consider falling back. The bloodshed that will follow will be on a Cambodia-like scale, but that’s what happens when morons invade a country with no plan.
Comments
I particularly like this quote from the Dower article:
“Planning for the occupation of Japan actually began in the immediate aftermath of Pearl Harbor, and the general objectives of demilitarization and democratization of the vanquished foe were spelled out in the Potsdam Proclamation of July 1945, weeks before the Japanese government finally capitulated. MacArthur’s staff had considerable leeway for creative interpretation of their orders, but those orders reflected long interdepartmental deliberation in Washington, in contrast to today’s hasty policymaking. “
Doh!
It’s typical of the ignorant “I don’t care what the rest of the world thinks!” argument presented by so many Americans today. Yes, it’s one thing to put America’s interests first and foremost. It’s another thing to disregard any understanding of other cultures, customs and history when it clearly behooves one to do so.
There’s a fucking rube in the White House. An ignorant hayseed, if you will. No offense to country folk, many of whom are quite intelligent and open-minded. This administration considers few factors when making decisions. Who makes money and WWJD? Pathetic.
Next entry: America's Gun Culture
Previous entry: Bottom or Top
It’s a sign of how desperate these shitheads are that they are groping around for any anology whatsoever to prop themselves up.
Iraq was a forseeable and preventable disaster. It didn’t have to be this way. And the fact that Bush had to LOSE A FUCKING ELECTION before he changed tactics is incredibly damning.